Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-03-10
DAILY HERALD.
oUR SANITARY CONDITION.
Wnae . Premimemt Architect
Snyu 81 n.

Nh04 - GkOAaAOMs -@s~<~
says 81 n.
EprroR HRRALD-That the present
ehould be crisis as to the question OF
che sanitary state of Los Angeles is ap-
uarent on all sides There ought to be
no attempt made to Disguise the facts OF
IN epidemic that SO repeatedly and for
cibly has been foretold. and alas! as
soften received with derision. 1t about
&ime to lay aside all financial and private
interest considerations. and squarely look
this gaunt and silent scourge in the face
and deal with it at once as If we were
aware Of its actual residence In our
midst. Let competent inspectors OF
nuisances and sufficient number OF
health officers be at once put in motion,
and instruct them to be guided by only
ono motive, viz: "For the good of the
cemthon veal" Curb the people in
their indiscretioas of visiting pesthouses,
or of rooms infected, or of visiting fu-
nerals. While this is being adopted it
nay be as well to make retrograde
movement and survey briefly the actual
sanitary condition of Los Angeles; it
may be of benefit to the general COM
mupity at this period to enable them to
think for themselves, because it is the
community, directly or indirectly, who
are responsible for an unhealthy condi-
tion of any city.
The requirements of health may be
Nlassed under the head Of:
First-Ths purity and cleanliness of
ar.
Second--An equable temperament.
Third-Sufficiency Of daylight.
Fourth--Purity of water.
All of which should be demanded and
~btained at any cost. They are four sim.
ple laws that cannot be altered or devl-
ated from without serious Results to the
welfare of the individual and general
community alike, and the longer neg
lected the more difficult will be the case,
while the doctors and undertakers will
grin and revel in gay old time.s
First, it must be apparent to one and
ell that our population is yearly becom-
ing more consolidated and condensed.
We are crowding that which should be a
ueiehborhood into the space q street
should occupy, and forcing those who
should inhabit a house into single
room. They need not in the polluted air
Of their dwellings an extra poison to be
brought them by the means OF one OF
their necessities of life. In rooms where
the only light and air is admit.
ted by circumscribed areas, i'm.
purit,es are always in suspension,
and to great extent has been the case
with us during our late rains. Our apollo
Ries for public sewers have but little or
NO ventilation. and when attacked by
volumes of water rushing in, the sewer
gas, in hundreds of cases, was forced
through the ordinary traps of sinks,
baths, wash.basine, etc., etc., and as q
GREAT portion of these common necessa.
ries Of life are of cheap materials and
imperfect finish, the bursting and bub-
bling of f@kid sewer gases was not diff.
cult As our heavy rains occurred at
might, the gases were emitted into closed
rooms, and the sleeper wot not in the
morning, of the cause of his prostra.ed
condition.
Much of our sanitary neglect is doubt.
less to be attributed to the tendency Of
Ill classes to avoid that which is not
easy and close at hand. We will not
often take the trouble, for future con.
venience or prospective advantage. to
adopt an immediate remedy. To be salts.
fled with what we have rather than
trouble ourselves greatly to improve it,
has been. at least in sanitary matters,
che doctrine of the past, and formerly
that which was said to be the luxuries
Of the few, may now be said to be the
requirements of the many.
The water, which we have been forced
TO drink. may even. after being mechan.
ically filtered, have been burdened with
the deadly seeds of the malignant dis
ease, the impurities which flowing water
gains from vegetable decomposition, or
has accumulated in its passage through
The air in the form of rain.
The Romans were aware, in the con-
struction of their acqueducts, of the abso-
lutte necessity of affording every facility
for the eration of their water in its flow,
and for fltering or lessening its turbidity.
and accomplished it by forming numbers
Vk OcRuSAtOLI U6Stu1 III tuc ltuc Vi tuolI
conduits. More than 800 years before
the Christian era they abandoned the
Tiber as the source of their consumption
and sought the purer springs of
the Tusculum for their supply.
But with this before us, and
having the advantages of the ex-
perience of 1000 years, we are content
to drink from a muddy ditch. running
comparatively stagnant for miles, unpro-
tected, and collecting in its course
the essence of the decomposed ex.
nrement of all creation that moves and
mas its being along the areas of its banks.
In all this we defy natural laws. Ma.
ture in her publication of water per.
forms one of those chemical transforma.
tions so consistent with the earth as the
Ashitation of man, but she requires from
ua in return obedience to her laws, or
the retribution of disease and death is
frequently the result of their neglect.
Every means also should be adopted
to prevent stagnation Of the air, and
provide for the speedy removal of all re.
fuse matter, and ensure ventilation,
which should be competent to carry off
the emanations constantly given of in
respiration, etc. Ventilation should be
arranged even to prevent the smell of
cooking from pervading the apartments,
yet how numerous are the houses in
which every one of these obvious rules
are transgressed.
It is an axiom that no stagnant water
be allowed to remain in the vicinity of
ary building, either above or below the
soil; no organic matter or refuse of any
kind should lie allowed. But there are
other causes of impurity in the air
which permeates the subsoil. The ema.
nations OF the gas pipes are serious
source of impurity to the air In the soil.
SO, also, is the leakage of sewers into
the subsoil. From both these causes the
air in the subsoil is eminently polluted.
Consequently the purity Of the air in the
basement will much depend upon the